"There are defeats more triumphant than victories." 

~Michel de Montaigne

There were many reasons why the proposed reforms to the Venezuelan Constitution of 1999 was defeated. Among the many we can cite the following:

1. The lack of opportunity to create the PSUV (United Socialist Party of Venezuela). The forming of the PSUV has been underway for a number of months but had not reached its full organizational strength prior to the voter referendum on Constitutional Reforms last December. As a consequence, the public was not fully informed of the intrigue and counter revolutionary plots of the opposition. This resulted in a cooling off in some sectors of the revolution. The PSUV has scheduled its first Nacional Congreso for March, 2008.

2. An inadequate period of time to educate the public and counter the heavy attacks on the reforms by the opposition. Even though there were many nationwide public meetings at local level to discuss the reforms and to receive input from the people, the people were not prepared for the onslaught executed by the opposition.

3. More time should have been spent on a good advertising campaign rather than on ideological teaching. We were not able to convince our adversaries and did not have capacity to respond to their media campaign. As a result, we were placed on the defensive; we failed to explain the reforms to the people in detail and failed to deliver the project to the heart of “chavismo” and to the public in general.

4. There were deficiencies of the political-administrative apparatus throughout the country. These weaknesses included impunity, bureaucratic inefficiency, corruption and a lack of security, particularly at local levels.

5. The development of elitism among local leaders, leading to their living in largesse which was an affront to many people are just managing to rise out of poverty.

6. The unwarranted over-confidence in some sectors of local leadership which assumed that the people would come out to vote for the reforms. This was a direct result of their lack of contact with their constituencies over the last few years and led to a demobilization.

7. The deficient work of some governors and mayors who thought they would lose power to the Comunal Councils which were proposed in the reforms. In their parish meetings, they did not see that, by giving power to the people, it would be returned to them ten-fold as future leaders. They viewed  voter abstention as their form of political survival.

8. But the main reason so many Venezuelans abstained was the opposition propaganda campaign which clearly had its effect. That campaign completely distorted the content of many articles of the proposed reform. The campaign caused many people to believe in a false reality. Many actually came to believe that they would lose private property, their houses, cars and even their children. For reasons identified above, we were not able to counter-attack these lies. The anti-reform campaign convinced at least 12% of the voter population that the reform vote amounted to a contest of "Chávez" vs "No", rather than "Yes vs. No". Those who abstained did not want to vote against Chávez, nor did they want to vote "No" to the reforms. Abstention was the natural 3rd alternative. This permitted the opposition to seize a pyrrhic victory.

Reviewing our mistakes

Review of our strategic errors now allows us opportunities for correction and to re-impulse this entire process as has been ordered by President Chávez. It will also permit us to clarify to all those who have been confused around the world that president Chávez is a great democrat, a profound humanist and has an integral  approach to governance. It also grants us a new "search engine" for peace and it has demonstrated to the opposition for the first time that the Bolivarian Constitution now in force possesses a greater democratic character that neither, Venezuela nor the world has seen before.

Triumph of the revolution

The triumph of the revolution is evident in many national and international achievements in the sectors of education, health, identification, culture, sports and the integration of the people to govern themselves. Contrary to what some people think, all things considered, Chávez will win easily against any direct or indirect electoral opposition in the future.

The new approach to constitutional reforms will come in a referendum from the people. One of those reforms will be reduced to "Chávez and his reelection". When the pulse of the people is taken accurately today, there can be no doubt that the referendum vote on President Chávez will be approved by more than the 60% of the people. In other words, Chávez will be with us for a long time yet.